OAKLAND — Supervisor Scott Haggerty’s chief of staff improperly and unethically pressured county employees to approve licenses and permits for political supporters and personal acquaintances, including a landowner who was also handling his personal home loan, according to an Alameda County grand jury report.

The grand jury found the staffer, Shawn Wilson, on multiple occasions lobbied county staff to make decisions that would benefit Haggerty’s donors or “favored applicants” and is calling for an immediate investigation by the Board of Supervisors. The grand jury, however, found no evidence that Haggerty, the board’s president, was aware of the improper activity.

Wilson denies the allegations and says he hasn’t done anything illegal or unethical.

“I don’t have anything to hide,” Wilson said. “I feel like if they do an investigation, they won’t find anything.”

County Counsel Donna Ziegler said the county is reviewing the findings and will issue a response to the grand jury in September.

The jury concluded that Wilson’s “inappropriate conduct” damaged the county’s reputation and caused direct economic losses to the county and its taxpayers. In one case, the grand jury found Wilson pressured the county’s Public Works department to allow BioFuel Systems, a Livermore-based wood-chipping and recycling business with several violations on record with the state, to move its operations to a county-owned site. The company made a $5,000 contribution to Haggerty’s 2016 re-election campaign in July of 2013, the report states.

Wilson’s interference in the process, the jury concluded, cost the county nearly $100,000 in legal fees to remedy the situation due to the costs of evicting the recycler from its location on Greenville Road in Livermore in March.

Company officials did not return calls for comment. The company has moved to the Altamont Landfill on Altamont Pass Road, according to the county..

The jury also reported that during talks on a county proposal to purchase the Sunol Valley Golf Club land from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Wilson agreed to keep local financier Chris George, with whom he was also pursuing a home loan, abreast of the negotiations under the auspices that the county could sell or trade the property to George’s company, CMG Financial, after the county acquired it.

“If I explain where we are at on the (project) you promise me you will shred this email?” Wilson reportedly wrote to company officials.

Wilson, the report states, pressured county staff to fast-track permits for George to build a barn in Sunol.

Wilson denied any conflict of interest involved in his dealings with George or CMG Financial, adding the reference to shredding emails was a joke.

“The guy didn’t do me any favors. The county got it wrong. I pushed for it because it was the right thing to do,” he said.

The jury also determined Wilson “applied relentless pressure” to staff to reconsider a rejection of a large home and pool construction project George was pursuing, telling the landowner in one email that he was “bending these motherf*****s” (meaning county staff). Wilson contends he didn’t break any rules because the county didn’t have applications on file for the projects.

CMG, a mortgage broker based in San Ramon, contributed $3,100 to Haggerty’s 2016 campaign last year.

Haggerty said the ultimate decision to relocate the recycling company rested with county Public Works Director Dan Woldesenbet. County staff, he said, are allowed to advocate for projects on behalf of constituents. He called the jury’s findings a surprise.

“I’ve never had a department head come to me and complain that Shawn has unfairly pressured them,” Haggerty said. “We have to look at it and find out why this is happening … Shawn’s a hard worker and an ethical person. I don’t think he’s broken the law in any way. He loves to advocate (and) I would be surprised if there were unethical violations in his case.”

Wilson said he was disappointed by the outcome of the report. “I’m very responsible at my job,” Wilson said. “I help everybody. It doesn’t matter who they are or what they’ve donated … If the grand jury wants to continue to say it’s unethical, then so be it.”

After learning of the report’s conclusions, Haggerty said he had talked with Wilson about “being more professional” in his communications and Wilson agreed. No administrative action has been taken against Wilson.

“I’ve learned now I can’t swear or joke in my emails,” Wilson said. “Did I say some things in emails? Yeah. Did I do anything illegal? No … I shouldn’t have said some of those things. I apologize for that.”

George and Woldesenbet weren’t immediately available for comment.

This isn’t the first time a chief of staff in Haggerty’s office has made headlines. In 2013, Chris Gray, who held the post from 1997 to 2012, filed a $10 million lawsuit against his former boss and the county accusing the supervisor of misappropriating funds, wasting taxpayers’ money and illegally diverting public resources for private gain. Gray claimed he was fired after confronting Haggerty about the allegations. The suit was settled for $45,000 in 2014.

In addition to calling for an investigation, the grand jury is recommending the board adopt a new code of ethics policy and relinquish control over the hiring of nonelected department heads to the county administrator.

Not only was racial animus a likely factor when Charter Communications repeatedly rejected negotiations with Entertainment Studios, the TV programmer, but Charter's attempt to shield itself from allegations of bias using the First Amendment is also without merit, according to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.